They say a staring contest conjures up love
But what if I can’t stare?
What if my eyes are too wonky, too glossy with teardrops
Brought on by simple gusts of wind and a shudder to my soul?
What if those two minutes it apparently takes to fall in love isn’t enough for someone to look past that?

I got asked too many questions when I was a child and didn’t understand
To a university car park where I was asked about the elephant in the room.
I didn’t realise it was so obvious and so I only approached men in the dark
Because they don’t analyse me like women do but still - the dark.

In job interviews, family interrogations, friends I’ve known for years, shops, dog walks, red haired singers I’ve met
I don’t give eye contact
What do you mean I have to look at the whole of their face and not just the eyes?
I must’ve looked like I wanted to **** the blue, green, amber out of them like the undead.

I think I would worry less about this with a vampire.
They use their teeth to communicate rather than castigation…
The living are too focused on the rules of colourless conversation
When the staring contest dies, their attention dies.

What?